NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly half of adolescent
inline skaters, skateboarders and snowboarders say nothing
would convince them to wear personal protective equipment,
according to a new survey of Wisconsin teens.

"This raises the question of whether personal protective
equipment in extreme sports should be mandatory," Dr. Erica L.
Kroncke of ThedaCare Physicians in Oshkosh and her colleagues,
the survey's authors, write. According to the Consumer Products
Safety Commission, they note, helmets could prevent or reduce
the severity of nearly half of the 16,000 head injuries due to
snowboarding and skiing that occur every year.

Kroncke and her colleagues surveyed 333 13- to 18-year-olds
about whether they used helmets, wrist guards, elbow pads, or
knee pads (and goggles for snowboarders) when engaging in
extreme sports. About two-thirds of the teens were male.

Sixty percent of the inline skaters surveyed said they
"never" or "rarely" used helmets, or only used them when they
were required, compared to 65% of skateboarders and 72% of
snowboarders. Percentages for other types of protective gear
were higher, the researchers report in the Clinical Journal of
Sports Medicine.

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Overall, snowboarders used the least protective gear, while
boys and girls were equally likely to use protective gear.

Most commonly, participants who used protective gear cited
rules or requirements, or their parents, as their reason for
doing so. Friends were cited more frequently as a reason for
why teens wore protective equipment than for why they didn't.
And witnessing or experiencing an injury was the main thing
study participants said could convince them to start wearing
protective equipment.

The researchers also found that kids who said they wore
helmets while biking were also more likely to use some types of
personal protective equipment. Inline skaters who didn't wear
helmets were more likely to smoke, while skateboarders who
scorned helmets were more likely to smoke and drink.

Discomfort was most common reason teens cited for not using
protective equipment in all three sports, along with lack of
perceived need.

Based on the findings, the researchers conclude, effective
ways to get teens to wear personal protective equipment while
engaged in extreme sports could include "reinforcement by
parents and peers, encouraging bike helmet use, manufacturing
more comfortable gear, educating adolescents, and instituting
personal protective equipment requirements in public areas."